I've posted my trip report along with several photographs. I posted it on its own blog.

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Chuck

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CII-

Thanks for the post and report.  My group just returned (I arrived home yesterday about noon) from a trip over much of the same ground.  Consider yourself lucky that you didn't head up to Adventure lake and try to make it via Haven/Gulch/Jigsaw to Wrist Lake.  The Jigsaw portages, over which a portion of our group traversed, was burned out and mostly resembled "pick-up-sticks" over the portage trail.  The portage time from Gulch to Wrist ran in excess of 6 hours of pulling canoes and packs over a "thatch" of logs.  We did run into a portage clearing crew on our way out and alerted them to the need to "re-open" the route.  I assume they will schedule clearing that area in the reasonably near future.

dd

I was planning on traveling those longer portages from Adventure to Wrist on day 6 of my trip. Since you read my report you know I was concerned about my right ankle and not knowing if the ankle was going to get worst so I made the decision to cut three days off my trip.

I also had some concerns about those upcoming portages through the burn since I already experienced two of them. I knew if my ankle got worst I would really have had a hard time crossing them.

I made the decision to cut those days off and it was tough to do so, but when traveling solo I needed to be realistic and look at the overall picture of the trip.

With the information you posted about those portages confirms I probably did the right thing or at least I made a wise decision. The 850 m portage was going to be my last portage of the day, so I would have been camping some where in the burn between Jigsaw and Wrist.

I'm glad you took the time to read the trip report.

Chuck

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 Dirty Harry in Magnum Force " A man's got to know his limitations."
 
As a solo paddler, you definitely made the right decision. Having to pay for emergency pick-up IF you couldn't get out on your own would of been very expensive. Have you figured out why NRS boots bothered your ankle? Seems funny it was only the one side?
I like your Saw, what brand/name is it? Seemed to make short work of the downed timber. I like that you don't have to assemble, just pull from sheath.
Excellent pictures as well.

The saw is a Corona 21” pruning saw with a 26” Weaver scabbard. It does the job and you don’t have to put anything together. This is the saw you want to carry when you expect there will be blow downs and most likely many of them. This is the saw to carry while traveling in the boreal forest. Dave Phillips turned me onto this saw.

If you go to my blog,     (You need to Login or Register (this link will take you to take post), there is a closer photo of both under the post for May 30, 2009. It’s toward the bottom of that post.

As for the ankle I’ve had some prior injury to it and I think when I sprained it in Wabakimi last year I re-aggravated it. I posted some more info on my blog posted on June 29,2009 (     (You need to Login or Register) I’m wearing an ankle support and some slight modifications to my inserts to keep me from stressing the peroneal tendon. Most of the problem seems to be once the tendon gets sore the pressure from these boots causes the constant pain. When I wore my Danner boots at night I didn’t have any problem.

I have ordered a pair of the OTB Odfin boots to see how they feel.

I will be wearing this ankle support on a three week canoe trip to Crown land, Misehkow River, Albany River and Wabakimi in one month with Dave. I don't know which boots I will be wearing until I try out the OTB boots later this week.

Chuck  

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Edit: If you click on any photo in my blog it will enlarge the photo!

just got my pair of OTB boots in the mail today. storms are still out of production. i ordered a pair of NRS work boots, but they are nothing like the storms and i sent them back. after returning two pairs of storms, maybe it's time for something different.

those coronas are commercial grade arborist saws and the weaver scabbard is well made and an excellent value. the saw carries really well under the pack compression straps as shown in chuck's photo.

now, as for axes....

When I called NRS about a week ago to inquire about the NRS Storm boot the guy had no idea when they would be back on the market. He asked me if I wanted the work boot but after giving it a quick thought I told him I would have to call back it I did.

Last Friday I called NRS again after doing some research on boots and came up with the OTB Odhin boot. He said he thought it was a little higher than the other similar boot by OTB. I should get the boots later this week. Let me know what boot you got and your initial thoughts on them.

This was a different sales person and he thought the Storm boot would be back on the market at the end of the year. I really don’t know if it’s true or not. He was probably guessing.

Chuck


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CIIcanoe wrote on Jul 14^th, 2009 at 4:22am:

This was a different sales person and he thought the Storm boot would be back on the market at the end of the year.

I was told at 'copia that the NRS Storm boot had ended production, but a new & improved (similar) model was coming out around year-end. The impression was that it may be under a different model name though, FWIW.

Great trip report! The tough portage conditions reminded me of my '06 Wabakimi trip in the Ogoki River burn area. If you travel through a burn area, you definitely take your chances on blowdowns.

Thanks for saw info, I can tell that's the ticket for clearing early season blow downs ;)

[quote author=Ranger

Great trip report! The tough portage conditions reminded me of my '06 Wabakimi trip in the Ogoki River burn area. If you travel through a burn area, you definitely take your chances on blowdowns.[/quote]

i like the corona saw better than the breakdown saw phil cotton uses, but phil has so many people using his saws that his focus is more on durability than function and speed.

i was wishing for my corona and razor sharp 3/4 axe when i was in there with him last season.

that said, our crew cleared more portages and more meters of portage trail than any crew in the history of the program (according to phil). we had a 100# woman along and she set the pace. cleaned house, so to speak. revised my perception about what women can do out there.

CIIcanoe
Your description of the portage in the fire/blow down area is near what I experienced on the portage from Jigsaw to Wrist last week.  I had come to a difficult to cross pile of trees and went around them down in the marsh.  When I came back up on top I could not find the trail so I turned to my GPS and could see a near by lake.  When I got to the lake it was the wrong lake.  I zoomed out on the GPS so I could see the whole portage and started bushwhacking to Wrist.
Thanks for the report
MagicPaddler

Wait til you guys see the pics of the (alleged) portages that Kingfisher & his team of women worked through during our very recent WCP trip! They pushed through a nightmare of burnt-out blowdowns by the hundreds completely blocking the portage path (on either side of Jigsaw Lake).  They may have looked like hell when they finished (certainly no worse than the men; Darrel's legs look like he had tangled with 3 or 4 wildcats) but they proved to me that women with the right mindset are every bit as capable of dealing with such formidable obstacles as men.  

Good trip report, by the way!  Still working my way through it but so far it is enjoyable comparing your perspective on many of the very same lakes & portages that we just finished with.

By the way, I like my NRS Boots just fine but will soon be in the market for wetfooting boots providing good ankle support and offering solid grip on slippery rock.  My NRS Storms are getting pretty beat up.  

Jimbo   8-)  

If you want to experience the "challenge" of the Jigsaw portages, you need to hurry.  Doug Gilmore (WCPP Park Super.) in an e-mail I received yesterday, indicated that someone would be on the way to clear those portages by Wednesday.

dd

Well...sure looks like I wasn't the only one out there having "fun"!!!

Chuck

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[quote author=CIIcanoe link=1247447696/10#13 date=1247618064]Well...sure looks like I wasn't the only one out there having "fun"!!!

Chuck

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Don't get too concerned.  All (nine) of us were traveling as a loosely cohesive group ... with half leap-frogging the other half just to spread out some and minimize traffic jams on portages as much as possible.  Over the 13 day trip, I think we shared the same lake for campsites only 3 times.  Still, the entire flotilla consisted of 5 canoes.

dd

DentonDoc wrote on Jul 14^th, 2009 at 11:27pm:

If you want to experience the "challenge" of the Jigsaw portages, you need to hurry.  Doug Gilmore (WCPP Park Super.) in an e-mail I received yesterday, indicated that someone would be on the way to clear those portages by Wednesday. dd

If he's smart, Doug (or Albert or Claire or whomever) will route Darrel & the girls NEXT year wherever they need some portages cleaned out.  They got pretty good at that sort of thing, despite looking rather messy afterward.  In fact, I think my future strategy will be to send Darrel & his All-Girl Squad JUST ahead of us on future forays into the Great Unknown.

Jimbo   8-)

Sounds like a good plan for Stumpy's Chub Pond next year...

Stumpy's chub pond would be a minor obstacle to these two. And they can fish too!

34 inch walleye caught and released on a perch Rapala #9 Taildancer.

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 Very nice!
The Waldo looks good too ;D

Nice walleye! How was the fight?

I prefer a fish 20 inches smaller for eating. Easier to clean too. I had a nice 8 pound pike give me a pretty good fight yesterday. After just about landing him, he let go of the 12 inch walleye that had actually been hooked.  We came back later and my buddy caught him.

Did you have trouble finding campsites to accommodate the whole group? My limited overnight trips out there have shown many small campsites with very few tent pads.

I carry a full G-Man bow saw with a spare blade. I find those take down saws are useless and frustrating to use.

What lake did you run into the power boats?

red_lake_rob wrote on Jul 20^th, 2009 at 11:22pm:

Did you have trouble finding campsites to accommodate the whole group? My limited overnight trips out there have shown many small campsites with very few tent pads. What lake did you run into the power boats?

Since our groups split up (one group of 4 and one group of 5), finding adequate campsites for 9 was not really contemplated.  My group of 4 a "tarp temp" and two 2-man tents actually found very nice campsites for the most part.  Several early sites on our loop required anchoring with rocks since there was little dirt/duff in which to push a tent stake.  The group of 5 (two using hammocks, and others using two tents) tended to find sites that were described as "adequate" but nothing like 4 or 5 stars.

The motor boats were on Kilburn Lake ... not really unexpected since it shares an open waterway with Sydney lake ... a resort lake.  However, we did spot a number of boats cached on other lakes (just none were in use during our passing).

dd

DD
Loved the pictures
Jimbo
Sorry I missed the chatter that must have gone with the itty bitty fish contest.  Tell me is that fish real or is that picture photo shopped?
MagicPaddler

wrote on Jul 21^st, 2009 at 12:49am:

Tell me is that fish real or is that picture photo shopped?

The fish is authentic (no "tom" foolery).  I also have another picture of the fish where Jimbo is using a middle digit as the standard measurement instrument.  However, I set up my photo gallery in a "G/PG" mode.

dd

i stopped to look at all the cached boats i saw in there. not a single boat had current park registration stickers and some were out of date by 8 years. i was told that the outfitter only had to buy a new sticker if the boat was used that year, but it was obvious that those boats got used every year.

i gave my notes with boat locations and registration info to albert r. and he was supposed to forward it to claire, but i don't know if he did.

I spoke to Claire last week and she mentioned something about going to check out some boat caches.

AS far as anchoring with rocks goes. I just assume I am doing that at every campsite. The hammock campers would have no trouble finding suitable locations I am sure.

I needed to tie the tree my hammock was hanging from to another tree to keep from pulling it over several times.  Good hammock pads are harder to find than in Quetico but there was two of us in my group using hammocks and we did ok.
Magicpaddler

No one has fussed up to taking home the stool softener.  I think some one who was in a solo canoe has it.  Has every one unpacked there gear yet?
MagicPaddler

wrote on Jul 25^th, 2009 at 1:15pm:

No one has fussed up to taking home the stool softener.  I think some one who was in a solo canoe has it.  Has every one unpacked there gear yet? MagicPaddler

Well, you are correct (on both counts).  Let me see.  Two of us were paddling solo canoes.  It was in my pack until we reached Minneapolis, and then ...  Thanks for "admiring" my pack at the take-out.

dd

DD -

Missed my opportunity when I mailed you that box of goodies, didn't I?   ;D

That is one well-traveled medicine bottle!

Jimbo   8-)

Jimbo wrote on Jul 25^th, 2009 at 2:00pm:

DD - Missed my opportunity when I mailed you that box of goodies, didn't I?   ;D That is one well-traveled medicine bottle! Jimbo   8-)

Yep.  However, I DID check the box before I replied.

dd

Now I know what to be watching for at 'copia next year...

wrote on Jul 25^th, 2009 at 1:15pm:

No one has fussed up to taking home the stool softener. MagicPaddler

Must be an "age" thing ;)
Softener is the last thing I seem too need.
OF course if the "only" natural softener ( Fried Fish) you counted on were the smallest fish on light line Jimbo caught , I can see why you might need help ;D

Claire here... with regards to the portage trails from Haven to Wrist Lake through the burn... these were cleared by the crew later in July.  We have visited these trails every year since the fire.  Please note however that in the year of the fire, we were able to reroute a couple of these trails to better ground.  

Haven to Gulch trail - now on the east side of the creek thus avoiding the original soupy trail on the west side.  Nice flat traverse approx. 325m

Gulch to Jigsaw trail - same landing but instead of traveling through a low area in a small ravine, we opted to relocate the trail to higher ground to the east.  Climb up the bedrock and once on top, simply follow the rock cairns all the way to the launch.  You will see the ravine on your right... which was never reopened after the burn.  Yet, I know of a couple of canoe parties who have forged through the tangled mess.

Jigsaw to Wrist trail - a challenge to keep open - trees keep coming down - cleared this year and we will be here again next summer

Hope this helps a bit.  Always a good idea to get updates from your outfitter or from the park office.